Chapter 3

When Severus finally made his way back to the dungeons to floo home, he was tired from yelling at the headmaster, fuelled by all the anger and helplessness he'd felt about not being able to interfere. Lily's son deserved better than Petunia's paltry treatment of him.

The old fool had not bothered to check up on the boy other than the single letter he sent to the squib who lived down the street every summer. Damned Petunia! She'd made it a condition that no one from the wizarding world would visit their house in order to take in Harry Potter and activate the blood wards. He'd snap her bony neck if he ever saw her again.

What would Lily say if she knew how you've treated her son, Tuney? Her only son, whom she died protecting? Severus wasn't exactly blameless either, but he'd had a reason for being a cold stone hearted bastard. His class was swarming with Death Eater's children who might report back to their parents, even if that was a fragile excuse. Like Malfoy Sr! Who seemed to keep a closer watch nowadays. He couldn't exactly be seen cozying up to The-Boy-Who-Lived!

—--

When Severus entered the sitting room, he saw the clock on the mantle reading ten past eleven. Three hours had gone by?

Potter was asleep, still in the same spot on the sofa where Severus had left him, holding himself tense. He did look small for his age. He idly wondered why Potter thought he would get expelled for something as simple as accidental magic that he had no control over.

"Potter?" The boy didn't wake.

Severus took a deep breath, sat down on the sofa and gently prodded him on his shoulder to wake him up. Potter jerked awake with a single touch jumped to his feet half asleep, wand clutched and looked about to attack. He seemed to be shaken by the day's events. He then took in the surroundings with widened eyes and realization dawned on him. He lowered his wand looking rather sheepish, scratching the back of his neck.

Severus was bemused. Potter seemed to be on edge all the time. He'd almost snorted when the boy had asked him a question to prove his identity. There was another side to this child he'd never known before. And whose fault was that, again?

"Professor, I-" he started but Severus interrupted him with a gesture to sit back down on the sofa. He did, still looking rather embarrassed about his half awake outburst.

"You have had a very eventful evening, Potter," he mused, and when the boy looked about to interrupt him, he added "Your muggle relative has been deflated and the family has been Obliviated. And no you won't be in trouble for a bout of accidental magic, these are not grounds enough to expel you." This was definitely what the child was concerned about seeing as he visibly relaxed.

"Professor, where are we?" he asked.

"My house."

"Your house? But uh, sir, why am I here?"

"I'd rather you not wander around in muggle suburbs in the dark. Now, you should get some sleep, preferably on a real bed?" Severus said, looking at the boy for signs of magical exhaustion. He did look tired.

Severus fished in his robes for the vials he'd picked up earlier. "One is a Restorative Draught and the other is a Sleeping Draught. I want you to take them both." Severus said, handing over the vials. "You'll feel better in the morning."

"I'm really not in any trouble for blowing up Aunt Marge?" Potter asked tentatively while eyeing the potions in his hand warily.

"No," Severus sighed, "and the potions are to make sure you don't suffer from magical exhaustion, I'm not poisoning you." he stated. The boy looked up with an odd emotion in his eyes.

"I, that's not it, uh, Professor, I- I recognise the potions and uh, healing potions can't be tampered with," Potter was starting to ramble, "Sir, I-"

Severus stopped him with a wave of his hand, "I've had a long day as I'm sure you can relate to, now come along," he said, stood up and started hovering the trunk and the cage upstairs making sure Potter followed.

Severus dropped them off in the spare bedroom and turned to the boy. "Do take the potions, Potter," he reminded, "we'll have plenty of time for questions in the morning. There's a bathroom down the hall and the kitchen is downstairs to the right, be down for breakfast by eight." Severus wanted to say something more but didn't know where to start, "Good night" he said finally.

The boy looked up at that, "Good night, sir" he said.

Severus turned to leave, he was really looking forward to a nice large glass of firewhisky after the week he'd had.

"Professor," he heard the tentative voice that made him look at the boy, "I- uh, Thankyou, sir" he said, biting his lip while looking at Severus with the same odd look on his eyes. Severus just nodded at him and stepped out of the room softly shutting the door.

—--

Severus sighed as he sat down in the armchair with a glass of firewhisky.

Potter was shaken. That much was evident with the way he acted. He was way too alert for his own good. Severus couldn't exactly blame the boy. He'd seen how they treated him. He wasn't proud of himself for not taking the boy away sooner. Instead he'd waited for Dumbledore to be back before he did something.

He had kept on telling himself that interfering would put the boy in more danger. But now it seemed he should have done something sooner instead of trusting that old coot. What was Albus playing at?

After what seemed like an hour, he started up the stairs and opened the spare bedroom. The boy was asleep with his glasses on. He slowly went in, took them off to put them on the side table next to the empty vials. At least he's taken the potions.

Severus sighed. The child seemed so innocent and carefree, sleeping like he wasn't chosen to carry all of the Wizarding World's expectations.

Today had been a long day for both of them. He exhaled as he shut the door softly before treading across the hall to his own bedroom. Tomorrow was going to be another long day.

—--

The next morning, Severus was reading The Daily Prophet at the kitchen table. He put it away when he heard Potter come down from his bedroom.

"Good morning, sir" the boy said, standing at the door to the kitchen.

"Morning, Potter" Severus said, inviting the boy to join him at the table.

"Before you start bombarding me with any more questions, this is for you." He handed over the letter Dumbledore had sent for the boy.

Severus observed the boy with curiosity as he sat across him reading through the parchment. He started buttering his toast while Potter sat himself stiffly, pushing his plate away to place the letter on the table. He was wearing robes that actually fit him, at least they were better than the elephant skin Severus had seen him wearing the past week. He looked well rested, no signs of magical exhaustion. That was good.

Potter looked up, "I'm staying with you for the rest of the summer? You're okay with it?" he asked, blinking. "And I'm not in trouble for running away?"

"Yes, seeing it was I that brought you here, I'd say I am okay with it." Severus moved the letter out of the way and put the toast and eggs in front of the boy again. "You're not in trouble, no. We'll talk more once you've eaten something." He knew he was stalling. He also didn't know how to get the boy talking about what he'd seen happen to him under Petunia's care.

Potter picked at his breakfast, eating a few bites before he pushed his plate away and looked up at Severus again.

"Not hungry?"

"Not really," he said. He was looking at Severus with curiosity and something else.

"Where exactly were you planning to go yesterday night?"

The boy coughed awkwardly at this. "I thought I'd get to London…" he trailed off.

"And how pray tell would you have managed to do that?"

"I- um"

"Yes?"

"I figured, since I was already going to get expelled, I'd use a uh, feather light charm on my trunk and fly to London under the Invisibility Cloak…" he said all this in a single breath and looked away scratching his neck.

Of course the sodding Cloak! Severus wanted to laugh at this. He just about managed to reign in his amused expression after looking at the boy resolutely staring out the window, clearly embarrassed.

"Um, sir" he started again, "how did you know to find me?" He looked genuinely confused at this.

Now that Severus had an opening to talk about the week, didn't mean he knew how to start.

"I've been on guard duty, watching over you the past week," he said slowly, seeing the boy's widening eyes. It looked almost comical.

"Guard duty? Wait. What do you mean watching over me the past week?"

"I mean precisely what I said."

"You've been watching me the whole week? Watching me! Watching everything! The whole week!" He was shouting now.

The cabinets rattled. Accidental magic. Severus fished in his robes, got out a vial of bluish potion and passed it over to the boy, who was breathing fast and looked almost hysterical now.

"I don't need a calming draught!" He yelled.

" That didn't help your case. Drink!"

The boy looked at him with contempt but didn't reach for the potion. His eyes were rapidly filling with tears. Severus didn't know what to say or do. He was not trained for this moment.

"Potter?" The boy clenched his fists and looked at his lap, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Potter, look at me." He just shook his head at this.

"Harry," Severus tried, softly. This seemed to get the boy's attention as he slowly looked up, his eyes - Lily's lively eyes - filled to the brim with sadness, fear and something else he couldn't place.

It broke his heart to see Lily's son like this. Severus slowly moved to the chair next to the boy and brought the vial to his lips. He gulped down the potion without another word.

The effect was instantaneous. His tense shoulders relaxed, he was breathing more slowly. It wasn't an entire dose, just enough to let him think past the anger. Potter still had tears running down his face. Severus wordlessly conjured a box of tissues, pushed it towards him and waited.

"Why?" He finally croaked.

Severus was perplexed at this. That is a bloody brilliant question. He'd been asking that his whole life.

"You do know that there's a mass murderer who's escaped prison?" he started, "He's been on the muggle news, yes?"

Potter slowly nodded, "He escaped from wizard prison? That's why the report on tv was incomplete?" He'd caught up soon enough.

"Yes," Severus said, "Professor Dumbledore just wanted to make sure there was someone to handle the situation if Black were to show up looking for you. And I am qualified enough to get you to safety in a moment's notice at any sign of danger."